Valentine starts Ohio auction firm

SUNBURY, Ohio – Jo Valentine, co-founder of central Ohio’s multi-dealer Valentine Antique Gallery, has established a new offshoot company in partnership with Ohio auctioneer Cynthia Schillig.

Known as The Antiques Auction Gallery, the new business will base its operation and conduct its sales at the 12,000-square-foot Valentine Antique Gallery in Sunbury. A debut auction is planned for Oct. 9, and will include Internet live bidding through LiveAuctioneers.com.

Valentine said the new business was launched to serve a growing need in the region for a full-service auction house specializing in antiques, fine and decorative art, collections and estates.

“When my husband John and I first opened our antique gallery in 2003, we wanted to include auctions, but we were so busy, those plans got sidetracked,” said Valentine. “During the six years that we’ve operated our gallery, we’ve noticed that there is a need here locally for an antiques and fine-art auction house. There are auctions in central Ohio, but they handle mostly box lots. Not a week passes that we don’t get several calls from sons and daughters of parents who are downsizing or who have passed away, telling us they don’t know what to do with all the articles in the family home.”

Valentine said that when Schillig expressed an interest in co-founding an auction company, she knew she had found the right partner for her new endeavor. Valentine said the plan is to hold monthly auctions featuring fine art, porcelain, pottery, glass, silver, Oriental rugs, lighting, and collections of various types, including antique toys and dolls. The premiere auction will contain between 300 and 350 lots.

Gallery dealers will serve as appraisers and catalogers and the auction goods can be previewed over an extended period of time inside the gallery.